Eyes Full of Wonder
by very unlikely
Summary: A six-year-old Rapunzel gets a special visitor, one winter night. [one-shot]


_Tap._

Rapunzel rolled over, mumbling in her sleep.

_Tap tap tap._

She opened her eyes a little.

_Tap tap_.

She sat up. It was the middle of the night! Who could possibly... Her thoughts trailed off as she saw the white-haired boy floating at her window. He wasn't looking at her. In fact, he didn't even seem to see her. He was concentrating on the window. He held a large, crooked, wooden staff in one hand, touching it to the glass and leaving beautiful swirling patterns in its place. That's what had woken her up.

She tried to reach up and open the window, but her six-year-old self was too short. She sighed, looking around her room for possible resources. The stool. She dragged the small chair up to the window and clambered onto it, trying not to get tangled up **(no pun intended)** in her long golden hair. She unlatched the window, and the boy finally seemed to notice her.

"Hi," she grinned.

"Hello," he replied hesitantly.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Jack. Jack Frost."

"Ohhh! That's why you're not cold," she remarked.

Jack grinned a little. Of all the things this little girl could have chosen from - the fact that he was floating, his unnatural white hair, his magical stick that made drawings (he had honestly heard that from one child), his bare feet - out of all of those things, she chose the fact that he wasn't cold.

"What about you?" he asked. "Are you cold?"

"A little," she admitted. "But not too much. I like the cold."

"Smart girl." He sat down on her window sill and watched her as she looked at him with wide, sparkling green eyes, full of wonder.

"Are you real?" she asked suddenly.

"I should think so!"

"Good." there was another silence. "Because my mommy says you're not real. She says that you're just a fairy tale."

Jack smiled a little sadly. "They all say that."

"They shouldn't."

"And why's that?"

"Because it hurts your feelings. When I said it, you got sad."

"What's your name?"

"Rapunzel."

Jack hadn't met a kid like this since...well, since Merida, the little Scottish princess. He made a quick decision.

"Do you want to come with me? Just for a ride."

Fear replaced wonder in Rapunzel's green eyes. "I-I'm not allowed."

"It's okay. Your mommy will never know."

"I've never been out before," she explained nervously.

"Out where?"

"Out _there_! I've never been outside!"

"Well, do you want to?"

"Yes," she whispered, as if she were afraid that her mother could hear her.

"I swear she'll never find out. It's okay," he said gently. "Just take my hand."

She hesitantly placed her small, warm hand into his larger, colder one. His fingers closed around hers and she smiled.

"Ready?"

She took a deep breath. "Yes."

Jack took off, holding her close. Her hair billowed out behind her like the tail of a kite. If Mother Gothel had been awake to look out the window at that very moment, she would have seen two figures, one big and one small, flying in front of the moon.

Jack swooped down, and he heard Rapunzel gasp. They had stopped right above the palace.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, wonder back in her eyes. She stared down at the dark, sleepy kingdom illuminated by a few streetlights dotted throughout the streets.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," he replied. He flew her around the town, occasionally landing to show her different things like the statues in the park, or the mosaic in the square.

"She's pretty," remarked Rapunzel, pointing at the young princess nestled in her parents' arms. Jack stopped walking suddenly, and looked strangely at the young girl, then at the mosaic. Realization dawned upon him. Rapunzel was looking at a younger version of himself. He wanted to tell her, he wanted to pick her up and bring her back to the palace, back to her _real_ home. But he remembered what the ten-year-old Merida of Dunbroch had told him all those years ago.

_"People should change their own fates. They shouldn't be changed_ _for_ _them."_

He couldn't help her find out who she really was. If she wanted that done, she would have to find enough strength within her to do it herself. But he _had_ to help her in some way. He had a feeling that she hadn't had fun in quite a while. So tonight, he would bring her enough fun to last her a lifetime.

He created a rink for her to skate on. They laughed and slipped and threw poorly-made snowballs at each other. It was only when the sky turned from dark blue to a lighter, colorful gray that Rapunzel let out a loud yawn and Jack decided to take her home. She curled up in his arms and he flew her gently home. He floated through the open window and tucked her into her bed.

"I had fun, Jack," she said sleepily.

"So did I, Rapunzel." A stream of golden sand flew through the window, and arranged itself in pictures of snowflakes around her head. He smiled. "Sleep well." He kissed the dreaming girl and crept out her window, shutting it behind him.

Jack Frost strolled through the air, his smile tinged with sadness. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to her for a little while. She may even stop believing in him. But he would be there. When she needed him, he would be there.


End file.
